Ingrams July 2023

NUMBER ONE

(l-r): Kevin Brandes, CEO; Monica Melendrez, Accounts Receivable and Credit Specialist; Teresa Youngs, Director of Marketing; Kyle Gholston, COO.

CargoQuotes

1 st Year

Growth: 5,289.28%

Average Annual Growth Rate: 1,763.09%

Gross Revenue: 2022: $19,166,505 Full-time employees: 20 For Kevin Brandes, the road to success is best navigated with a big truck. Demonstrating yet again the power and potential of the Kansas City region’s logistics sector, he launched CargoQuotes in 2019 with an understanding that even a fully formed shipping infrastructure was brimming with opportunities. “I have a saying that I seem to repeat day in and day out: “Find that niche and make it the best that it can possibly be!” Brandes says. Consultations with people in the shipping space eventually led him to Kyle Gholston, who came on board as COO. “As we started brainstorming, I kept saying that we need a niche that we could do better than anyone else,” Brandes says. “Kyle commented on Mexico cross-border, and as we dove into it further, we knew that this was the path that we needed to pursue.” One more strategic hire in that specialty, he says, and “the rest is history. We are here to stay and have created a team that will rewrite history for our customers.” Cash flow is king in this space, given that drivers must be paid before customers have processed their freight invoices. “This can put a squeeze on capital at a time when as a small but rapidly growing company, you need capital to reinvest in your No. 1 asset, your people,” Brandes says. “We’ve been diligent in managing our finances and ensuring that we have the cash in place each day to successfully run and invest back into our business.” Early success also depended on an all-hands-on-deck ethos. “As a start-up, we had to lead from a position of need; if it needed to be done, we did it regardless of position,” Brandes says. “As our growth began to accelerate, we were able to reinvest in our business and begin the process of defining roles so that those who were best at a given role could excel in that role.” But the cultural foundation was set: “No one was above any role, teamwork was critical, and exceptional customer service would separate us from our competition,” he says. “Today, our leadership continues to focus on the efforts that have brought us here as well as focusing on scalability, organizational structure, talent management, and financial performance, among other challenges as they arise.” The company’s experience tells a story of a sector awash in change. “The transportation industry is never going away—the mode of the industry may change a little bit, but it will always be here,” Brandes says. “That being said, I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel, but I thought if we could make certain segments run better and more efficiently, then that is what I wanted to focus on. It is no secret that the transportation industry has been transformed with the ever-changing technology that makes everything run smoother.” Among the other lessons learned: “You cannot anticipate and plan for everything,” Brandes says. “When we started in 2019, it was a challenging market for logistics companies. Capacity was abundant, and demand was not, but we took the strategy of fishing in the waters where there was less competition. While there were competitors in the cross-border space, there were significantly fewer than in other markets. This allowed us to prosper and grow in a tough market.” By mastering that niche, his team was set to soar. “Once you have proven your value to your customers in a niche space like cross-border, they will invite you to help in other ways and in other markets,” Brandes says. “We, in turn, show our customers and carriers that we value them.” 2019: $355,641

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I ngr am ’ s

Kansas City’s Business Media

July 2023